I am about to put some money down on a new Rockwood 8329SS this coming week that has to be ordered. I have been in the TT and love the floor plan but when I looked on line at reviews of Forest River products it has made me reluctant. I know generally only people who have bad reviews post things so I know that all the complaints are from just a portion of the buyers but still there are a lot of them at 485 FOREST RIVER complaints and reviews @ Pissed Consumer I decided to come to other owners to see what your experience is with reliability and warranty work. Please give me an honest opinion as this will be a TT that I intend on keeping for a long time.

Make sure your dealer knows that you want them to perform a very, very thorough PDI BEFORE you drive off the lot. Tell them to reserve a 3 hour slot because you are very, very picky & won't leave until everything is 100% working. Tell them that you plan to videotape the entire PDI & will buy elsewhere if they do not allow you to videotape. (Say you need the videotape if you forget how to do something - but in reality you will use it in court if they outright lie to you & misrepresent their product...)

Once they understand you know what you are doing, they will (hopefully) put their best mechanic on your unit when it arrives. If their best mechanic spends a few hours checking it over & making tweaks, you hopefully won't need to come back for warranty work later.

OR, you could pass on ordering one and only buy something on the lot that meets your stringent criteria. I actually looked at TTs during heavy rains & passed on new ones that were leaking badly. Found a used one that was bone dry, had the dealer do a pressure test & re-caulk & we have been camping trouble-free for 2 seasons.

IMO the TTs built just after the recession are better-made than those made now, during the RV boom. IMO they are rushing units out the door to meet demand & are not providing true quality control. This is why you see so many more complaints for 2012-2016 units vs. 2008-2011... BTW ours is a 2011 & I wouldn't trade it even-up for a new one/same model...

My sister/brother in law just bought the same model about 6 months ago. They love it! No major problems just a few minor things. Seeing their trailer prompted mt to get one as well (2604ws).
Just make sure everything is as you want it before you drive it away. You will love it. Good luck!!

Please give me an honest opinion as this will be a TT that I intend on keeping for a long time.

Some of the negative stuff you've uncovered is well founded. The RV industry does have some (many) quality issues. And not just FR (Rockwood etc) but many other manufacturers. Nevertheless, and more to your query, our Rockwood is five yrs old, has accumulated about 16K miles and has been a more than reliable home away from home. We love it. Issues? You betcha! Be prepared to break out the screwdrivers and wrenches from time to time to address some of those quality issues. If you're not inclined to be hands on in that regard, now's a good time to learn. Don't rely on the dealer to fix it all. They'll leave you disappointed and again this is not specific to FR - it's an RV industry wide thing.

By all means, bite the bullet and grab onto that Rockwood. Get out and have some fun with it and if things don't turn out as well as you expected, get back to us on the forum so that we can bend over backwards helping you on your way.

Thanks for the advice. I had a Cruiser RV Viewfinder for the past two years and believe I made the mistake of doing a 20 minute PDI because "I knew everything" from my previous TT. I ran into problems not knowing how to do certain things. Thank God for Youtube in these situations. Quality was adequate on the unit but somehow in mid August we bent the frame beyond repair. It was totaled. We just had the coach to where we wanted it and really enjoyed it, first year 29 nights, second year we were on 18 nights with several more trips planned. Now its onto the next unit that has a few things our previous TT's did not have. Thanks for the PDI advice. It will be very helpful.

Quote:

Originally Posted by The_Rhino

Make sure your dealer knows that you want them to perform a very, very thorough PDI BEFORE you drive off the lot. Tell them to reserve a 3 hour slot because you are very, very picky & won't leave until everything is 100% working. Tell them that you plan to videotape the entire PDI & will buy elsewhere if they do not allow you to videotape. (Say you need the videotape if you forget how to do something - but in reality you will use it in court if they outright lie to you & misrepresent their product...)

Once they understand you know what you are doing, they will (hopefully) put their best mechanic on your unit when it arrives. If their best mechanic spends a few hours checking it over & making tweaks, you hopefully won't need to come back for warranty work later.

OR, you could pass on ordering one and only buy something on the lot that meets your stringent criteria. I actually looked at TTs during heavy rains & passed on new ones that were leaking badly. Found a used one that was bone dry, had the dealer do a pressure test & re-caulk & we have been camping trouble-free for 2 seasons.

IMO the TTs built just after the recession are better-made than those made now, during the RV boom. IMO they are rushing units out the door to meet demand & are not providing true quality control. This is why you see so many more complaints for 2012-2016 units vs. 2008-2011... BTW ours is a 2011 & I wouldn't trade it even-up for a new one/same model...

My thoughts are that when a company produces so many units some are going to have some issues and some are not. I think a good PDI will help. I also heard from a FR Wildcat owner that he was able to go and see his unit being built. He said it was as though the builders knew he was there and did a better job. Not sure I would go this far but it would be nice to do.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kandl

Some of the negative stuff you've uncovered is well founded. The RV industry does have some (many) quality issues. And not just FR (Rockwood etc) but many other manufacturers. Nevertheless, and more to your query, our Rockwood is five yrs old, has accumulated about 16K miles and has been a more than reliable home away from home. We love it. Issues? You betcha! Be prepared to break out the screwdrivers and wrenches from time to time to address some of those quality issues. If you're not inclined to be hands on in that regard, now's a good time to learn. Don't rely on the dealer to fix it all. They'll leave you disappointed and again this is not specific to FR - it's an RV industry wide thing.

By all means, bite the bullet and grab onto that Rockwood. Get out and have some fun with it and if things don't turn out as well as you expected, get back to us on the forum so that we can bend over backwards helping you on your way.

The floor plan works perfect for us as we take a lot of workcations. I sell health and life insurance so we take out coach with us on trips and work out of it and the large bed room is really helpful for this.

Quote:

Originally Posted by roaddiva

My sister/brother in law just bought the same model about 6 months ago. They love it! No major problems just a few minor things. Seeing their trailer prompted mt to get one as well (2604ws).
Just make sure everything is as you want it before you drive it away. You will love it. Good luck!!

My thoughts are that when a company produces so many units some are going to have some issues and some are not. I think a good PDI will help. I also heard from a FR Wildcat owner that he was able to go and see his unit being built. He said it was as though the builders knew he was there and did a better job. Not sure I would go this far but it would be nice to do.

Not sure how anyone could tell they were "doing a better job" from (I'm guessing) 50-75 ft or more away. (I'm assuming, based on pics I've seen, that visitors are up on some kind of catwalk above the floor, not right there with the guys.) If the guy misses the strut with a screw, there's no way you'd know.

He told me that he felt that since the crew knew he was there that they paid more attention. It could all be in his head but he said he was able to actually meet the crew and thought it helped. Don't know but he said he has not had any issues. He could be on to something.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rockfordroo

Not sure how anyone could tell they were "doing a better job" from (I'm guessing) 50-75 ft or more away. (I'm assuming, based on pics I've seen, that visitors are up on some kind of catwalk above the floor, not right there with the guys.) If the guy misses the strut with a screw, there's no way you'd know.